THOMAS TASCHINGER: Runoffs after primaries will test voters' interest

By Thomas Taschinger

Published 4:40 am, Sunday, March 2, 2014

If you think Democrats and Republicans will have their final candidates for November settled after Tuesday's primary elections, think again. Up and down the ballot, many races with lots of names in them will not be decided.

Why? Because if a candidate doesn't get at least 50.1 percent of the vote in this round of balloting, a runoff election is next between the top two finishers.

Jefferson County voters are almost certainly facing runoffs in three important races - the contest for district clerk to replace the late Lolita Ramos, the race for County Court at Law No. 3 judge to replace the late John Paul Davis, and the one for judge of the 252nd District Court to replace Layne Walker.

Each one of those contest has three candidates, and don't expect a clear winner in any of them.

On the state ballot, the same fate awaits several other races too. But on them, voters often know little or nothing about the candidates. Quick, tell me who you like in the Republican race for railroad commissioner - Silton, Christian, Berger or Boylus?

The only statewide race with a long list of recognizable candidates is the GOP contest for lieutenant governor.

You have the incumbent, David Dewhurst. And the incumbent land commissioner, Jerry Patterson. Along with the incumbent ag commissioner, Todd Staples. Oh, and an incumbent state senator, Dan Patrick. If that isn't a state record for the number of incumbents in one race, I'd hate to see the one that is.

The most intriguing possibility for a runoff lies with the GOP race for U.S. senator. Incumbent John Cornyn faces Congressman Steve Stockman and six other little-known challengers. If Stockman weren't in this race, Cornyn would cruise to victory. But of course Stockman is thinking he's the next Ted Cruz, so we shall see.

Cruz, of course, is the most famous runoff winner in recent Texas history. In the 2012 race for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, he finished second to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst - but forced him into a runoff. And to the surprise of many, Cruz won that second faceoff.

The strange thing about the runoffs for Tuesday's elections is that they won't be held until May 27. That's an eternity in politics, and you can bet most voters will forget what they knew about the candidates by then. The May 27 runoff also will come a couple of weeks after local elections for city councils and school boards. Some Texans will have "voter fatigue" by then and won't show up for the runoffs, which have notoriously low turnout anyway.

Which means that many important contests will ultimately be decided by 5 or 10 percent of registered voters. It's fair, I guess, but it's a heckuva way to run a railroad - or choose a railroad commissioner.

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Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom